Movement disorders constitute a serious health problem, especially among the elderly. These movement disorders can often be the result of brain lesions. Disorders involving the basal ganglia which result in movement disorders include Parkinson's disease, Huntington's chorea and Wilson's disease. Furthermore, dyskinesias often arise as sequelae of cerebral ischaemia and other neurological disorders.
There are four classic symptoms of Parkinson's disease: tremor, rigidity, akinesia and postural changes. The disease is also commonly associated with depression, dementia and overall cognitive decline. Parkinson's disease has a prevalence of 1 per 1,000 of the total population. The incidence increases to 1 per 100 for those aged over 60 years. Degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and the subsequent reductions in interstitial concentrations of dopamine in the striatum are critical to the development of Parkinson's disease. Some 80% of cells from the substantia nigra can be destroyed before the clinical symptoms of Parkinson's disease become apparent.
Some strategies for the treatment of Parkinson's disease are based on transmitter replacement therapy (L-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (L-DOPA)), inhibition of monoamine oxidase (e.g., Deprenyl™), dopamine receptor agonists (e.g., bromocriptine and apomorphine) and anticholinergics (e.g., benztrophine, orphenadrine). Transmitter replacement therapy may not provide consistent clinical benefit, especially after prolonged treatment when “on-off” symptoms develop. Furthermore, such treatments have also been associated with involuntary movements of athetosis and chorea, nausea and vomiting. Additionally, current therapies do not treat the underlying neurodegenerative disorder resulting in a continuing cognitive decline in patients.
Blockade of A2 adenosine receptors has been implicated in the treatment of movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Restless legs syndrome, nocturnal myoclonus and in the treatment of cerebral ischemia. See, for example, WO 02/055083; Richardson, P. J. et al., Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 1997, 18, 338-344; and Gao, Y. and Phillis, J. W., Life Sci. 1994, 55, 61-65, each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. Adenosine A2A receptor antagonists have potential use in the treatment of movement disorders such as Parkinson's Disease (Mally, J. and Stone, T. W., CNS Drugs, 1998, 10, 311-320, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety).
Adenosine is a naturally occurring purine nucleoside which has a wide variety of well-documented regulatory functions and physiological effects. The central nervous system (CNS) effects of this endogenous nucleoside have attracted particular attention in drug discovery, because of the therapeutic potential of purinergic agents in CNS disorders (Jacobson, K. A. et al., J. Med. Chem. 1992, 35, 407-422, and Bhagwhat, S. S.; Williams, M. E. Opin. Ther. Patents 1995, 5, 547-558, each which is incorporated by reference in its entirety).
Adenosine receptors represent a subclass (P1) of the group of purine nucleotide and nucleoside receptors known as purinoreceptors. The main pharmacologically distinct adenosine receptor subtypes are known as A1, A2A, A2B (of high and low affinity) and A3 (Fredholm, B. B., et al., Pharmacol. Rev. 1994, 46, 143-156, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). The adenosine receptors are present in the CNS (Fredholm, B. B., News Physiol. Sci., 1995, 10, 122-128, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety).
P1 receptor-mediated agents can be useful in the treatment of cerebral ischemia or neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (Jacobson, K. A., Suzuki, F., Drug Dev. Res., 1997, 39, 289-300; Baraldi, P. G. et al., Curr. Med. Chem. 1995, 2, 707-722; and Williams, M. and Bumnstock, G. Purinergic Approaches Exp. Ther. (1997), 3-26. Editor. Jacobson, Kenneth A.; Jarvis, Michael F. Publisher: Wiley-liss, New York, N.Y., which is incorporated by reference in its entirety).
It has been speculated that xanthine derivatives such as caffeine may offer a form of treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A number of studies have demonstrated a beneficial effect of caffeine on controlling the symptoms of ADHD (Garfinkel, B. D. et al., Psychiatry, 1981, 26, 395-401, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). Antagonism of adenosine receptors is thought to account for the majority of the behavioral effects of caffeine in humans and thus blockade of adenosine A2A receptors may account for the observed effects of caffeine in ADHD patients. Therefore a selective adenosine A2A receptor antagonist may provide an effective treatment for ADHD but with decreased side-effects.
Adenosine receptors can play an important role in regulation of sleep patterns, and indeed adenosine antagonists such as caffeine exert potent stimulant effects and can be used to prolong wakefulness (Porkka-Heiskanen, T. et al., Science, 1997, 276, 1265-1268, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). Adenosine's sleep regulation can be mediated by the adenosine A2A receptor (Satoh, S., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 1996, 93: 5980-5984, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). Thus, a selective adenosine A2A receptor antagonist may be of benefit in counteracting excessive sleepiness in sleep disorders such as hypersomnia or narcolepsy.
Patients with major depression demonstrate a blunted response to adenosine agonist-induced stimulation in platelets, suggesting that a dysregulation of adenosine A2A receptor function may occur during depression (Berk, M. et al., 2001, Eur. Neuropsycopharmacol. 11, 183-186, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). Experimental evidence in animal models has shown that blockade of adenosine A2A receptor function confers antidepressant activity (El Yacoubi, M. et al., Br. J. Pharmacol. 2001, 134, 68-77, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). Thus, adenosine A2A receptor antagonists may be useful in treatment of major depression and other affective disorders in patients.
The pharmacology of adenosine A2A receptors has been reviewed (Ongini, E.; Fredholm, B. B. Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 1996, 17(10), 364-372, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). One possible mechanism in the treatment of movement disorders by adenosine A2A antagonists is that A2A receptors may be functionally linked dopamine D2 receptors in the CNS. See, for example, Ferre, S. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 1991, 88, 7238-7241; Puxe, K. et al., Adenosine Adenine Nucleotides Mol. Biol. Integr. Physiol., (Proc. Int. Symp.), 5th (1995), 499-507. Editors: Belardinelr, Luiz; Pelleg, Amir. Publisher: Kluwer, Boston, Mass.; and Ferre, S. et al., Trends Neurosci. 1997, 20, 482-487, each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Interest in the role of adenosine A2A receptors in the CNS, due in part to in vivo studies linking A2A receptors with catalepsy (Ferre et al., Neurosci. Lett. 1991, 130, 1624; and Mandhane, S, N. et al., Eur. J. Pharmacol. 1997, 328, 135-141, each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety), has prompted investigations into agents that selectively bind to adenosine A2A receptors.
One advantage of adenosine A2A antagonist therapy is that the underlying neurodegenerative disorder may also be treated. See, e.g., Ongini, E.; Adami, M.; Ferri, C.; Bertorelli, R., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1997, 825 (Neuroprotective Agents), 3048, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. In particular, blockade of adenosine A2A receptor function confers neuroprotection against MPTP-induced neurotoxicity in mice (Chen, J-F., J. Neurosci. 2001, 21, RC143, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). In addition, consumption of dietary caffeine (a known adenosine A2A receptor antagonist), is associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease (Ascherio, A. et al, Ann. Neurol., 2001, 50, 56-63; and Ross G. W., et al., JAMA, 2000, 283, 2674-9, each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). Thus, adenosine A2A receptor antagonists may confer neuroprotection in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease.
Xanthine derivatives have been disclosed as adenosine A2A receptor antagonists for treating various diseases caused by hyperfunctioning of adenosine A2 receptors, such as Parkinson's disease (see, for example, EP-A-565377, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). One prominent xanthine-derived adenosine A2A selective antagonist is CSC [8-(3-chlorostyryl) caffeine] (Jacobson et al., FEBS Lett., 1993, 323, 141-144, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety).
Theophylline (1,3-dimethylxanthine), a bronchodilator drug which is a mixed antagonist at adenosine A1 and A2A receptors, has been studied clinically. To determine whether a formulation of this adenosine receptor antagonist would be of value in Parkinson's disease an open trial was conducted on 15 Parkinsonian patients, treated for up to 12 weeks with a slow release oral theophylline preparation (150 mg/day), yielding serum theophylline levels of 4.44 mg/L after one week. The patients exhibited significant improvements in mean objective disability scores and 11 reported moderate or marked subjective improvement (Mally, J., Stone, T. W. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 1994, 46, 515-517, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety).
KF 17837 (E-8-(3,4-dimethoxystyryl)-1,3-dipropyl-7-methylxanthine) is a selective adenosine A2A receptor antagonist which on oral administration significantly ameliorated the cataleptic responses induced by intracerebroventricular administration of an adenosine A2A receptor agonist, CGS 21680. KF 17837 also reduced the catalepsy induced by haloperidol and reserpine. Moreover, KF 17837 potentiated the anticataleptic effects of a subthreshold dose of L-DOPA plus benserazide, suggesting that KF 17837 is a centrally active adenosine A2A receptor antagonist and that the dopaminergic function of the nigrostriatal pathway is potentiated by adenosine A2A receptor antagonists (Kanda, T. et al., Eur. J. Pharmacol. 1994, 256, 263-268, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). The structure activity relationship (SAR) of KF 17837 has been published (Shimada, J. et al., Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 1997, 7, 2349-2352, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). Recent data has also been provided on the adenosine A2A receptor antagonist KW-6002 (Kuwana, Y et al., Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 1997, 23, 119.14; and Kanda, T. et al., Ann. Neurol. 1998, 43(4), 507-513, each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety).
Non-xanthine structures sharing these pharmacological properties include SCH 58261 and its derivatives (Baraldi, P. G. et al., J. Med. Chem. 1996, 39, 1164-71, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). SCH 58261 (7-(2-phenylethyl)-5-amino-2-(2-furyl)-pyrazolo-[4,3-e]-1,2,4triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidine) is reported as effective in the treatment of movement disorders (Ongini, E. Drug Dev. Res. 1997, 42(2), 63-70, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety) and has been followed up by a later series of compounds (Baraldi, P. G. et al., J. Med. Chem. 1998, 41(12), 2126-2133, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety).
Accordingly, blocking of purine receptors, particularly adenosine receptors, and more particularly adenosine A2A receptors may be beneficial in treatment or prevention of movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Restless leg syndrome and nocturnal myoclonus, or disorders such as depression, cognitive, or memory impairment, acute and chronic pain, ADHD or narcolepsy, or for neuroprotection in a subject.
A number of adenosine A2A antagonists are described in International Patent Application Publication WO 02/055083 A1, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.